Structured Communication Framework

ABSTRACT

In a structured communication system, a message is received at a server from a communication application of a first client device. Based on content of the message, an unstructured portion of the message and a predefined set of allowable responses to the message are identified. The message is then outputted to a second client device. A response is received to the message from the second client device. The server determines whether response to the message complies with the predefined set of allowable responses to the message. Responsive to the response not complying, an invalid response message is sent to the second client device indicating that the response is not compliant. Responsive to the response complying, the response is sent to the first client device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/267,079 filed on May 1, 2014, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/877,873 filed on Sep. 13, 2013 and U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/818,392 filed on May 1, 2013, thecontents of which are each incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Enterprises often rely on communication protocols such as email andshort message service (SMS) to manage workflows and other businessneeds. These conventional communication protocols are based on naturallanguage messages and responses, which often result in communicationinefficiencies. For example, an employee may misinterpret a questionfrom a supervisor as requiring a detailed response, when the supervisoris actually only interested in a “yes” or “no” answer. Furthermore, thereliance on natural language makes it difficult to automatically monitorand process communications for the purpose of workflow management.

SUMMARY

In a first embodiment, a method facilitates a structured communication.A server receives a message from a communication application of a firstclient device. Based on content of the message, an unstructured portionof the message and a predefined set of allowable responses to themessage are identified. The message is outputted to a second clientdevice. A response to the message is received from the second clientdevice, and the server determines whether the response to the messagecomplies with the predefined set of allowable responses to the message.Responsive to the response not complying, an invalid responsenotification is sent to the second client device indicating that theresponse is not compliant. Responsive to the response complying, theresponse is sent to the first client device.

In a second embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium stores instructions for performing the computer-implementedmethod described above.

In a third embodiment, a system comprises a processor and anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructionsfor performing the computer-implemented method described above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a computingenvironment for a structured communication system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a central serverin a structured communication system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating input and output data structures to andfrom a broker in a structured communication system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process performedby a gateway for processing a received communication in a structuredcommunication system.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process performedby a gateway for parsing received communications in a structuredcommunication system.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process performedby a broker for processing a received communication in a structuredcommunication system.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process performedby a notifier for processing a received communication in a structuredcommunication system.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a computersystem for use with the structured communication system.

The figures depict embodiments for purposes of illustration only. Oneskilled in the art will readily recognize from the following descriptionthat alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustratedherein may be employed without departing from the principles describedherein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A communication protocol enforces a structured communication frameworkbetween two or more users operating respective client devices. Whensending a message, a sender specifies a structured format that limitsthe possible allowed responses based on a set of response rules. Therecipient may respond to the message according to the limited responserules set forth by the sender. The structured framework thereby improvescommunication efficiency because the sender is much more likely to getthe type of response desired. Furthermore, the structured frameworkenables automatic parsing and processing of communications for internalworkflow tracking or other purposes. The protocol furthermore enablesautomatic tracking of a state of the communication and clearlydelineates which user is responsible for the next communication. Thisprotocol is thereby able to coordinates complex interactions using asimple communication format.

In one embodiment, both the message and responses can be set forthdirectly in the body of a communication (such as an email or textmessage) to enable a sender to easily create structured communicationswithout using a complicated interface. The interface for creating andresponding to structured communication may comprise, for example, astandardized interface specifically designed for operation with thestructured communication framework, or may leverage an existinginterface such as, for example, an email application interface. In oneexample of a structured communication, a user may send a message in asimple form such as, “Alice, would you take out the trash? Yes|No.” Thestructured communication system automatically parses the message toidentify an unstructured portion of the message comprising naturallanguage content (e.g., “Alice, would you take out the trash?”), anddetermines based on the natural language content and the messagestructure that “Yes” and “No” specify allowed responses. The structuredcommunication system then automatically ensures that a response to themessage follows one of the allowed responses. Additional detailsregarding the communication protocol and communication structures aredescribed below.

FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram of a structured communicationsystem 100 according to one embodiment. The structure communicationsystem 100 includes a central server 120, one or more third partyservers (e.g., third party servers 140-1, 140-2, . . . , 140-M) and aplurality of clients 120 (e.g., clients 120-1, 120-2, . . . , 120-N)coupled by a network 130. Alternative embodiments may include additionalor different components.

A client 110 (e.g., clients 110-1, 110-2, . . . , 110-N) can be any typeof computing device that is capable of supporting a communicationsinterface to the central server 120 and/or one or more third partyservers 140. Suitable devices may include, but are not limited to,personal computers, mobile computers (e.g., notebook computers),personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, tablets, mobile phones,gaming consoles, and network-enabled viewing devices (e.g., set-topboxes, televisions, and receivers). The clients 150 each comprise one ormore processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable storagemediums (among other components) that enable the clients 150 to executevarious user interface tools used to send and receive communicationsaccording to the structured communication framework and to manage useraccounts. For example, in one embodiment, a client 110 executes a webbrowser application that provides a web-based user interface thatenables the client 110 to interact with the central server 120 or athird party server 140 via the network 130 using a web-based interface.Alternatively, locally installed applications (or “apps”) may provide auser interface that enables the client 110 to interact with the centralserver 120 or third party server 140.

The user interface of the client 110 enables a user to initiate orrespond to a message within the structured communication framework. Wheninitiating a message, the user specifies a recipient of the message, thecontent of the message, and one or more rules that place limitations onthe allowed possible responses to the message. When responding to areceived message, the original recipient specifies content of a responsethat is in accordance with the rules set forth by the sender in theoriginal message. In one embodiment, the user interface furthermoreenables a user to specify one or more actions to be performed such as,for example, archiving previous communications, canceling a pendingmessage, or modifying the rules for allowed responses to a pendingmessage. Furthermore, in one embodiment, the user interface enables auser to create or manage various aspects of a user account associatedwith the structured communication system 100. The user account storesinformation identifying the user together with various communicationpreferences of the user as will be described in further detail below.

Structured communications can be sent to and from clients usingdifferent communication applications and protocols. For example, in oneembodiment, communications are sent and received on the client 110 usingan email application that communicates with the central server 120 usinga native email communication protocol (e.g., simple mail transferprotocol (SMTP)). In another embodiment, communications are sent andreceived on the client 110 using a short message service (SMS)application that communicates with the central server 120 using a nativeSMS protocol. Using these traditional communication applications, theuser can sends an email or SMS to a designated email address or phonenumber associated with the central server 120. Alternatively, a plug-incan be installed to operate with an existing email or SMS application.For example, in one embodiment, the sender can instead specify therecipient's email address or phone number in the “To:” field of theemail and the plug-in instead causes the email or SMS application toroute the email or SMS to the central server 110. In yet anotherembodiment, communications are sent and received on the client via a webinterface (accessed via a web browser) or an application interface(e.g., a mobile application interface). For example, messages could besent using applications such as WHATSAPP MESSENGER, APPLE'S IMESSAGE, orother applications that use custom communication protocols. In theseembodiments, a local application or plug-in on the client device 110intercepts messages sent via the messaging application interface (viathe custom protocol) and routes the message to the central server 110for processing.

The network 130 enables communications among the entities connected toit. The network 130 may use standard communications technologies and/orprotocols such as Ethernet, Wifi, worldwide interoperability formicrowave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, etc. Furthermore, the network 130 canoperate using encryption technologies such as, for example, securesockets layer (SSL), transport layer security (TLS), virtual privatenetworks (VPNs), etc. In other embodiments, the network 130 or a portionthereof may uses custom and/or dedicated data communicationstechnologies instead of, or in addition to, the ones described above.

The central server 120 generally facilities communication in thestructured communication framework between two or more clients 110. Thecentral server 120 receives communications from a sending client 110according to one of a plurality of possible communication sources (e.g.,email, SMS, a mobile application, a web-based interface, etc.). Thecentral server 120 processes the communications to ensure that thecommunications are valid (e.g., meets a set of rules associated with thestructured communication framework). The central server 120 thendetermines an appropriate recipient for the communication and transmitsthe communication to the recipient client according to one or morecommunication frameworks (e.g., email, SMS, a mobile application, aweb-based interface, etc.). The central server 120 may furthermore logcommunications and track the state of communications. Additionally, thecentral server 120 may process user-requested actions related to thecommunications such as archiving or deleting communications.

The central server 120 is generally implemented as one or more computingdevices (e.g., one or more servers) having one or more processors andone or more computer-readable storage mediums storingcomputer-executable program instructions. When executed, the programinstructions are loaded to a memory and executed by the one or moreprocessors. Execution of the program instructions enables the centralserver 120 to carry out the functions and processes described herein.

The third-party servers 140 operate in conjunction with the centralserver 120 to facilitate communication between the clients 110 and thecentral server 120. Examples of third-party servers 140 that may be usedwith the structured communication system 100 include, for example, emailservers, short message system (SMS) servers, extensible messaging andpresence protocol (XMPP) messenger/chat servers, or other serversimplementing custom communication protocols. Such third party servers140 enable third party developers to integrate custom applicationsand/or communication protocols with the structured communication system110. For example, in one embodiment, a third-party server 140 receives acommunication from a client and forwards the communication to thecentral server 120 for processing. Optionally, the third-party server140 may receive the communication in a custom format specific to a thirdparty application and translate the communication to a standardizedformat used by the central server 120. Furthermore, the third-partyserver 140 may receive outgoing communications from the central server120 and forward the communication to the recipient client 110. Thethird-party server 140 may additionally translate the communications tothe custom format compatible with the third party application.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example embodiment of the central server 120. Thecentral server 120 comprises a gateway 210, a broker 220, a notifier230, a user profile database 240, and a communication log database 250.Alternative embodiments may include additional or different components.

The gateway 210 comprises one or more transport-specific gateway modules212 (e.g., an application programming interface (API) gateway module212-1, a web gateway module 212-2, an SMS gateway module 212-3, an SMTPgateway module 212-4, a XMPP gateway module 212-5, a webhook gatewaymodule 212-N, etc.). In general, each transport-specific gateway isresponsible for communications to and from the client 110 using aparticular transport.

Each transport-specific gateway module 212 is configured to receive andprocess communications from different sources and translate thecommunications to a standardized format that is independent of thesource. For example, the API gateway module 212-1 is configured toreceive and translate communications that are generated by a locallyinstalled client application 202-1 (e.g., a mobile app) using, forexample, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and JavaScript ObjectNotation (JSON), or other suitable protocols. The web gateway module212-2 is configured to receive and translate communications that aregenerated from a web-based user interface 202-2 and may be formattedaccording to HTTP, HyperText Markup Language (HTML), or other suitableformat. The SMS gateway module 212-3 is configured to receive andtranslate SMS communications (e.g., text messages 202-3). The SMTPgateway module 212-4 is configured to receive and translate emailcommunications 202-4 based on the SMTP. The XMPP gateway module 212-5 isconfigured to receive and translate messenger or chat communications202-5 based on XMPP. The webhook gateway module 212-N is configured toreceive and translate communications obtained via webhooks from 3^(rd)party applications 202-N. The webhook gateway module 212-N enables thirdparty applications 202-N communicate with the structured communicationsystem 100. For example, in one embodiment, the webhook gateway module212-N monitors a known uniform resource identifier (URI) that receivesHTTP POST/PUT requests when communications are sent via the third partyapplication 202-N. By enabling compatibility between the broker 220 andthird party applications 202-N, the structured communication system 100enables third party developers to develop custom applications havingcustomized user interfaces and customized communication protocols thatcan integrated seamlessly with the structured communication system 100.

In one embodiment, the gateway 210 may perform natural languageprocessing on received communications to automatically parsecommunications that are received in natural language format. Forexample, the gateway 210 may use natural language processing todetermine if the incoming communication is a new message, a response toa previous message, or a requested action. The gateway 210 mayfurthermore parse the message using natural language processing toidentify, for example, the message sender, the message recipient, themessage content, or response rules. Response rules may indicate, forexample, whether a freeform type of response is allowed or whether astructured response format will be enforced in which the response mustbe selected from one of a specified set of allowed responses. In thecase that a structured response is specified, the gateway 210furthermore parses the message to specifically determine each of thepossible allowed responses (e.g., “yes” or “no”). In one embodiment,natural language processing is used for communications received via openform communication systems such as email and SMS. Communications fromother sources may not necessarily require natural language processingbecause the associated user interfaces may force users to provide thecommunication in a more structured form. For example, communicationsreceiving from a web-based user interface or application interface maybe obtained via a fillable form that forces the sender to identify thevarious communication fields, such as the sender, recipient, messagecontent, response type (e.g., freeform or structured), allowedresponses, etc.

The gateway 210 furthermore determines if the received communication iscomplete. For example, in one embodiment, the gateway 210 determinesthat the communication is complete if the message unambiguouslyspecifies all of the information required by the communicationframework. If the communication is not complete, the gateway 210 mayautomatically send a response to the sending client 110 requestingadditional information. For example, if a sender specifies “Alice” asthe recipient but there are two or more “Alices” in the sender's addressbook, the gateway 210 may reply back to the sender to ask “which Aliceis the recipient?” If a message is received in a natural language form,the gateway may automatically reply if clarification is needed to parsethe message for processing. For example, if the gateway 210 cannotdetermine whether a freeform or structured response is allowed, thegateway 210 may ask the sender to specify. In the case of a structuredresponse, the gateway 210 may ask the sender to specify each of thepossible allowed responses if the delineation is not expressly providedand cannot be inferred from the natural language content of the message.In one embodiment, this automatic response is sent according to the samecommunication transport in which the message was received. If thegateway 210 deems a received communication complete, the gateway 210passes the message to the broker 220 in the standardized format.

The broker 220 brokers communications between the gateway 210 and thenotifier 230. The broker analyzes messages received from the gateway 210in the standardized format and determines if the message is valid. Forexample, in one embodiment, the broker 220 determines that both thesender and intended recipient of the communication have registeredaccounts with the structured communication system 100. The broker 220may furthermore process the content of the message to ensure that themessage adheres to a set of predetermined communication rules. Forexample, if the communication is a response to a message specifying aparticular response structure, the broker 220 ensures that the responseadheres to the specified structure. Here, if the response is to amessage specifying a set of allowable responses (as opposed to afreeform response), the broker 220 verifies that the response matchesone of the allowed responses. If the message is valid, the broker logsthe message and passes the message to the notifier 230. Otherwise, thebroker 220 sends an invalid message notification to the originatingclient 110 (e.g., via the notifier 230 or gateway 210). In oneembodiment, the broker 210 also processes actions requested by users.For example, the broker may process requests to archive communications,delete communications, update allowed responses for a pendingcommunication, update a user preference, etc.

The notifier 230 notifies recipients of new communications or responsesto previous communications. The notifier 230 receives communication fromthe broker 126 in the standardized format and converts the communicationto a format appropriate for transmission to a recipient client 110. Inone embodiment, the notifier 230 comprises a plurality oftransport-specific notification modules 232 (e.g., a mobile operatingsystem (OS) notification module 232-1, a websocket notification module232-2, an SMS notification module 232-3, an SMTP notification module232-4, an XMPP notification module 232-5, a webhook notification module232-N, etc.). Each transport-specific notification module 232 receivesthe communications in the standardized format and translates thecommunications to a transport-specific format depending on thedestination. For example, the mobile OS notification module 232-1formats communications intended for use with a locally installed clientapplication 234-1 (e.g., a mobile app) according to HTTP, JSON format,or other suitable format. The websocket notification module 232-2formats communications intended for use with a web-based user interface234-2 according to HTTP, HTML or other format. The SMS notificationmodule 232-3 formats communications intended for use with a textmessaging application 234-3 according to SMS format. The SMTPnotification module 232-4 formats communications intended for use withan email application 234-4 according to SMTP format. The XMPPnotification module 232-5 formats communications intended for use with amessenger or chat application 234-5 that operates based on XMPP. Thewebhook notification module 232-N formats communications using a webhookthat can be monitored and processed by 3^(rd) party applications 234-N.For example, the webhook notification module 232-N posts request to aknown uniform resource identifier (URI) that can be monitored by a thirdparty application 234-N. The third party application 234-N can take someautomatic action based on a received communication. For example, theapplication can update a calendar, update workflow tracking data, orautomatically respond to a message. In the case of a workflow trackingapplication, the webhook notification module 232-N or application parsesthe content of the message to identify a workflow action item associatedwith the message, identifies a status of a workflow action item based onthe content of the message, and automatically provides input to aworkflow tracking application to add, modify, or delete an entryassociated with the workflow action item based on status. In this way,workflow status can be automatically tracked based on thecommunications. In one embodiment, if a third party application 234-N isused to create a new message for a user, the third party application mayset a webhook that gets a POST request when the user responds to themessage.

Other communication formats may also be used depending on the type ofapplication intended to receive the communication. The notifier 230 canfurthermore automatically initiate actions based on communications. Forexample, if a user responds “No” to an invitation-type of a message, thenotifier 230 could send a message removing the event from the user'scalendar.

In one embodiment, the broker 220 broadcasts messages to each individualtransport-specific notification module 232, and each transport-specificnotification module 232 then determines whether or not to send thecommunication based on user preferences of the recipient. For example,if a user specifies a preference to receive communications only by email234-4 and via a web user interface 234-2, then only transport-specificnotifier modules 232-4, 232-2 send the communication, while the othermodules discard the message. Thus, the broker 220 need not know whichtransport-specific notification modules 232 are present in the notifier230. This enables flexible scalability of the central server 120 becausetransport-specific notification modules 232 can be added or removedwithout modifying the broker 220. In an alternative embodiment, thebroker 220 determines the recipient's communication preferences andsends the message only to the appropriate transport-specificnotification modules 232 corresponding to the recipient's preferences.

The user profile database 240 stores profile information for a pluralityof users of the structured communication system 100. The user profiledatabase 240 may store, for example, identifiers for one or more clients110 associated with a particular user, communication preferences of theuser, a contact list associated with the user, or other informationassociated with the user. The communication log database 250 stores logsof communications between users of the structured communication system100 as will be described below.

FIG. 3 illustrates example data structures to and from the broker 220 inthe standardized format. In one embodiment, a communication to thebroker 220 can be categorized as one of three types of communications: amessage 310, a response 320, and an action 330. Each of these messagetypes are formatted by the gateway 210 to conform with the standardformat used by the broker 220. In one embodiment, a message 310comprises a sender data field 312 identifying the sender of the message,a recipient data field 314 identifying the intended recipient of themessage, a message content data field 316 including the natural languagecontent of the message, and response rules data fields 318 indicatingone or more allowed responses or other response rules for responding tothe message. A response 320 comprises a sender data field 322identifying the sender of the response, a recipient data field 324identifying a recipient of the response, a response content field 326indicating the content of the response, and a communication identifier328 identifying a previous communication associated with the response320. An action 330 specifies an action to be performed by the broker 220such as, for example, archiving a previous communication, deleting acommunication, modifying allowed responses to a pending communication,etc.

For each new message, the broker 220 generates a new communication logentry 340 that will be associated with the communication. In addition tostoring the data fields associated with the message 310 (e.g., a senderdata field 348, a receiver data field 360, a message content data field352, and a response rules data field 354), the broker 220 generates acommunication identifier 342 that will be associated with a relatedmessage 310 and response 320. The broker 220 furthermore determines astate of the communication and stores the state information to a statefield 344. For example, in one embodiment, the state is either “active”(a message 310 has been sent without a response 320) or completed (aresponse 320 has been received to the message 310). In one embodiment,the communication log entry 340 also stores a response type field 346specifying the type of allowed responses, which can be determined fromthe response rules 318. For example, in one embodiment, the responsetype field 346 can specify a “closed-ended” type of response or an“open-ended” (or “freeform”) response. The broker 220 sets the responsetype field 346 to “closed-ended” when a finite set of allowed responsesare specified by the sender (e.g., “yes” or “no”) or can be implicitlydetermined. The broker 220 sets the response type field 346 to“open-ended” when the sender does not limit the allowed responses to aspecific list, but instead allows the recipient to respond in anopen-ended format.

In one embodiment, the broker 220 furthermore outputs the message 360 orresponse 370 to the notifier 230. Each notifier than processes themessage 360 or response 370 according to the transport-specificprotocols. The message 360 and response 370 may have the same fields asthe message 310 and response 320 received from the gateway 210 for aconsistent communication framework.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a process performed by the gateway210 for processing a received communications. The gateway 210 receives402 a communication in a native format specific to an originatingapplication. The communication may comprise a message 310, a response320, or an action 330. The communication may comprise natural languagecontent and/or may include metadata (e.g., field codes) indicatingvarious where various components are present in the communication. Forexample, if the communication is sent via a web form, different parts ofthe message may be inserted by the user in different parts of the form,and the web application then expressly labels each part as correspondingto the sender 312, recipient 314, message content, 316, or responserules 318. In a response 320, different components of the response 320may be expressly labeled as corresponding to the sender 322, recipient324, response content 326, and communication ID 328. Alternatively, thecommunication may be entirely or partly in natural language form inwhich the specific components of the communication are not expresslyidentified. The gateway 210 converts 404 the communication from thenative format to the standard format used by the broker 220 by decodingthe communication from its native protocol. The gateway 210 furthermoreparses 406 the communication to identify the type of communication(e.g., a new message 310, a response 320, or a user-requested action330), and to identify the various data fields associated with each typeof communication corresponding to different parts of a message,response, or action. If the communication is a new message 310, thegateway 210 can identify a sender 312, recipient 314, message content316 (e.g., unstructured content), one or more responses rules 318 (e.g.,structured content), or other portions of a communication that may berequired by the structured communication system 100. Similarly, if thecommunication is a response 320 to a prior message, the gateway canidentify the sender 322, recipient 324, response content 326, andcommunication identifier 328. An example of a process for parsing thecommunication is described in further detail below with respect to FIG.5. The gateway 210 determines 408 if the communication is valid bydetermining whether the communication type and any required fields canbe unambiguously identified. If the communication is not valid, thegateway 210 sends 410 an invalid communication notification. The invalidcommunication notification may include a request for additionalinformation to resolve any ambiguity in the communication. In oneembodiment, the invalid communication notification specifies theambiguity in the received communication and requests information toresolve the ambiguity. For example if the gateway 210 cannot determinethe type of communication, the notification message may request that thesender identify the type of communication (e.g., “Please response withmessage, response, or action to indicate the type of communication”). Ifany of the fields associated with the communication type cannot beunambiguously determined, the notification message may request thisinformation (e.g., “Please list the allowed responses separated by a ‘|’symbol”). In one embodiment, the gateway 210 can obtain 412 additionalinformation from the sender in response to the invalid communicationnotification. For example, the sender can respond with the specificinformation requested and the process then loops back to step 408. Ifthe gateway 210 determines that the communication is valid in step 408,the converted communication is sent 414 to the broker 220.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of process for parsing a communicationinto its components. The gateway 210 identifies 502 the type ofcommunication (e.g., whether the communication is a new message 310, aresponse 320 to an active communication, or an action 330). In somecommunication formats, the type of communication is expressly identifiedin the communication. For example, if the communication is sent via aweb form or mobile application, the web form or mobile application mayrequire that the sender expressly indicate the type of communication(e.g., using a drop down box) and this indication may be included inmetadata (e.g., in a header) sent with the communication. Alternatively,the type of communication may be inferred from natural language content.For example, in one embodiment, the presence of a question mark “?”indicates that the communication is a new message. Furthermore, thepresence of certain known command keywords (e.g., “delete,” “archive,”etc.) indicate that the communication is an action 330. In someembodiments, certain characters may indicate that the communication is aresponse. For example, the presence of “re:” in a subject line of anemail communication typically indicates a response. In otherembodiments, the identification of the sender and recipient may be usedto determine whether a communication is a new message or a response. Forexample, if there are no active communications between Alice and Bob,then a new communication from Alice to Bob is inferred to be a newmessage. On the other hand, if a message from Bob to Alice is stillactive (no response has been identified yet), then a communication fromAlice to Bob is inferred to be a response to the prior message. In otherembodiments, additional natural language processing may be performed todetermine the type of communication. Furthermore, if the type ofcommunication is ambiguous, the gateway 210 may send a reply requestingadditional information (e.g., “is this communication a response to Bob'smessage relating to taxes? Yes|No”).

If the communication is a message 310 or response 320, the gateway 210identifies 504 a sender of the communication and an intended recipient(if present) for the communication. For most communication protocolssuch as email, SMS, messaging, etc. address information for the senderand recipient are explicitly specified in communication protocol and canbe extracted from, for example, a header or other data field embeddedwith the communication. For example, for SMS communication the gateway210 can determine the sender and recipient based on the sendingtelephone and destination telephone number embedded in the messageprotocol. Similarly, for email communication, the gateway 210 candetermine the sender and recipient based on the sending and destinationemail address embedded in the email protocol. If the sender uses a webinterface to send the message, the sender may be determinedautomatically based on, for example, login information provided by thesender to access the web interface and the recipient may be identifiedbased on a selected recipient in the web form. The address, phonenumber, or other identifier may be applied directly to the sender field312 and recipient field 314 of the message 310, or a user associatedwith the address or other identifier may be determined by performing alookup in the user profile database 240.

If address information for the sender and recipient are not expresslyspecified in a data field of the communication protocol (e.g., if themessage is sent to a general address for the central server 120 ratherthan to an address associated with a specific recipient), thisinformation may be extracted from the natural language content of themessage, if present. For example, in the message “Alice, would you takeout the trash? Yes|No,” the gateway 210 determines that “Alice” is theintended recipient based on the grammatical structure of the sentence orby recognizing that “Alice” is a name.

In another embodiment, multiple recipients can be inferred from a singlecommunication. For example, in the message, “Bob and Alice, are you freetomorrow at noon to meet?” “Bob” and “Alice” are each intendedrecipients. Here, the gateway 210 creates two messages, one to Bob andone to Alice.

In some cases, no recipient is identified, which may indicate that thecommunication is an action. An action may be identified, for example, ifno recipient is indicated and the communication includes certainkeywords matching known actions as will be discussed below.

If the communication is a new message 310, the message content 316 andresponse rules 318 are identified 506. The response rules 318, ifpresent, may indicate the type of response requested (e.g., a freeformresponse or a selection of a set of specified allowed responses). Theresponse rules 318 may be explicit or implicit. If explicit responserules 318 are present, they may be expressly specified as metadataincluded with the communication. For example, a message sent via a webform or application may enforce that the sender explicitly identifiesthe type of response requested and specifically identify any allowedresponses. Alternatively, the response rules 318 may be explicitlyprovided in a text-based communication that conforms to a particularformat. For example, in one embodiment, the gateway 210 identifies aspecial end-of-content character (e.g., a question mark “?”) thatindicates the end of the message content and separates the messagecontent from a set of allowed responses. The gateway 210 then designatescontent before the end-of-content character as the message content 316and designate content after the end-of content character as the responserules 318.

If the response rules include a set of allowable responses, the gateway210 furthermore identifies 508 the allowable responses. In oneembodiment, the gateway 210 identifies a special character (e.g., a pipe“|”) in the response rules portion of the message that acts a delimiterbetween different possible allowed responses in the response rules 318.The gateway 210 then parses the content to designate a phrase before thespecial character as a first allowed response, a phrase after thespecial character as a second allowed response, and so on, if additionalspecial characters are present.

As one particular example, in the message “Alice, would you take out thetrash? Yes|No,” the gateway 210 determines that “Alice” is the intendedrecipient based on the grammatical structure of the sentence or byrecognizing that “Alice” is a name. Furthermore, the gateway 210determines that “would you take out the trash?” is the content of themessage by recognizing that the “?” is an end-of-content characterindicating the end of the message content. The gateway 210 furthermoredetermines that the characters before the end-of-content charactercomprise an unstructured portion of the message including naturallanguage content and the characters following the “?” represent allowedresponses, with each allowed response separated by the “|” character.Thus, the allowed responses are “Yes” and “No.” In another embodiment,more than two allowed responses may be specified. For example, in themessage, “Alice, when is our next meeting? Today|Tomorrow|Next Week,”Alice is determined to be the intended recipient, “When is our nextmeeting?” is the message content, and “today” “tomorrow” and “next week”are all allowed responses.

If the gateway 210 determines that the predefined allowed responses arenot expressly stated, the gateway 210 may determine that the allowedresponses are implicit. In one embodiment, when no predefined allowedresponses are expressly stated, a grammatical analysis is performed todetermine if the message is open-ended or closed-ended. If the messageis closed-ended, the set of allowable responses can be determinedimplicitly based on the grammatical analysis. For example, in themessage “Alice, would you take out the trash?” a grammatical analysiscan determine that “yes” and “no” are the allowed responses, even thoughthese are not explicitly stated. Furthermore, in the message “Alice, isour meeting today or tomorrow?” a grammatical analysis can determinethat the allowed response occur before and after the “or” in the messageand therefore “today” and “tomorrow” are the allowed responses. If nospecific allowed responses can be identified, either implicitly orexplicitly, the gateway 210 may determine that a freeform response isrequested, or that the communication is a response or action.

In the case where the communication is identified as a response 320, thecommunication identifier 328 is identified 510 to determine whichmessage the response is associated with. The communication identifier328 may either be explicitly included in the communication or mayinferred from the content of the communication. For example, if only asingle active communication exists from Alice to Bob, then the gateway210 may determine that a subsequent communication from Bob to Alice isassociated with the same communication identifier 328. If multipleactive communications exist, the gateway 210 may ask the sender tospecify the message to be associated with the response. Alternatively,the gateway 210 may attempt to resolve the ambiguity by determining ifthe response conforms to the allowable responses for only one of theactive messages. In other embodiments, the communication identifier 328a topic analysis can also be performed to match a topic of the messagewith a topic of the response. The gateway 210 furthermore identifies theresponse content 512.

If the communication is an action 330, the gateway 210 identifies theaction. In one embodiment, the gateway 210 stores a set of establishedactions that can be executed by the broker 220. When a communication isreceived, the gateway 210 determines if the communication references anaction in the establish set of possible actions. For example, thegateway 210 may look for certain known action keywords in thecommunication and recognize the communication as an action when akeyword match is found. For example, the user could send acommunication, “delete last message” or “archive last 10 messages.” Theterms “delete” and “archive” can be recognized as actions, thus enablingthe gateway 210 to properly process the communications. If an action isrecognized, the action is sent to the broker 220 which executes thedesired action.

Other examples of natural language processing in the context of astructured communication system will be apparent to those of ordinaryskill in the art. In other embodiments, where applications or web-formsare used to send communications, the gateway 210 may not necessarilyneed to perform any natural language processing to determine the type ofmessage or the message contents. Rather, in some embodiments, the useror application determines the type of communication and this informationis provided together with the communication contents.

Furthermore, in different embodiments, the steps of FIG. 5 may beperformed in a different order or steps may be omitted. For example, inone embodiment, the type of communication is not necessarily expresslyidentified prior to identifying at least some of the components of thecommunication. Rather, in some embodiments, the type of communicationmay be identified only once a sufficient number of components have beenidentified to unambiguously characterize the communication type.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a process for brokeringcommunications between clients 110 in the structured communicationsystem 100. The broker 220 receives 602 a communication from the gateway210 in the standard communication format. The broker 220 analyzes 604the communication for validity and determines 606 if the communicationis valid. In the case of a response, the broker 220 determines a loggedmessage having a communication identifier 342 matching the response 320,and if allowed responses 354 are specified, compares the responsecontent 326 to the allowed responses 354, and determines that theresponse 320 is valid if it matches one of the allowed responses 354. Inthe case of an action 330, the broker 220 determines if the action canbe performed. For example, in a “delete” action, the broker 220determines that the action is valid if the referenced communication fordeletion is present in the communication log 340. A message may also bedeemed invalid if the recipient cannot be located. In other examples,additional communication rules may assess the validity of communicationsbetween more than two individuals. For example in one embodiment, aresponse to a first message is not valid until a response to a differentmessage (possibly from a different user) is completed. For example, aresponse by Bob to Alice may not be deemed valid until Bob firstresponds to a different message from Charlie. In another example, aresponse by Bob to Alice may not be deemed valid until Charlie firstresponds to a different message from Bob. The broker 220 tracks thestate of these messages so that it is clear to each user who isresponsible for the next communication. If the communication is notvalid, the broker 220 causes an invalid message alert to be sent back tothe sender. If the communication is valid, the broker 220 logs 608 themessage. In one embodiment, whenever a new message is received, thebroker 220 generates a new communication identifier 342 forcommunication log entry 340, and sets the state field 344 of thecommunication to “active.” When a response to an active communication isreceived and the response complies with the response rules, the broker220 logs the response using the same communication identifier 342 as thecorresponding message and sets the state field 344 to “completed.”Tracking the communication state in this manner enables a third-partyapplication to easily query the central server 120 to determine thestatus of a communication. For example, a workflow tracking applicationcan determine if a communication is open or closed, and use thisinformation track a related action item. The broker 220 then forwards610 valid communications to the notifier 230. FIG. 7 illustrates anembodiment of a process for notifying a client 110 of a receivedcommunication. The process may be performed by the notifier 230. Thenotifier 230 receives 702 a communication from the broker 220 in thestandard format. The notifier 230 determines 704 which notificationformat(s) to use to send the communication. In one embodiment, thenotification format is based on a desired delivery mechanism of therecipient which may be specified in a user profile of the recipient. Thenotifier 230 translates 706 the communication from the standard formatused by the broker 220 to one or more transport-specific communicationformats using the appropriate transport-specific notifier modules 232.The message is then sent 708 according to the one or more selectedformats.

FIG. 8 is a high-level block diagram illustrating an example of acomputer 800 for use as a client 110, central server 120, or third partyserver 140 implementing the communication framework described above.Illustrated are at least one processor 802 coupled to a chipset 804. Thechipset 804 includes a memory controller hub 820 and an input/output(I/O) controller hub 822. A memory 806 and a graphics adapter 812 arecoupled to the memory controller hub 820, and a display device 818 iscoupled to the graphics adapter 812. A storage device 808, keyboard 810,pointing device 814, and network adapter 816 are coupled to the I/Ocontroller hub 822. Other embodiments of the computer 800 have differentarchitectures. For example, the memory 806 is directly coupled to theprocessor 802 in some embodiments.

The types of computers 800 used by the entities of FIG. 8 can varydepending upon the embodiment and the processing power used by theentity. For example, a client 110 that is a mobile device may havelimited processing power, a small display 818, and might lack a pointingdevice 814. The central server 110 or third party servers 140 incontrast, may comprise multiple blade servers working together toprovide the functionality described herein, and may lack a pointingdevice 814, keyboard 810, graphics adapter 812, and display 818.

The storage device 808 is a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium such as a hard drive, disk drive, or a solid-state memory device.The memory 806 holds instructions and data used by the processor 802.The pointing device 814 is a mouse, track ball, touchpad, touchscreen,or other type of pointing device, and is used in combination with thekeyboard 810 to input data into the computer system 800. The graphicsadapter 812 displays images and other information on the display device818. The network adapter 816 couples the computer system 800 to thenetwork 830. Some embodiments of the computer 800 have different and/orother components than those shown in FIG. 8.

The computer 800 is adapted to execute computer program modules orapplications for providing functionality described herein. As usedherein, the term “module” or “application” refers to computer programinstructions and other logic used to provide the specifiedfunctionality. Thus, a module or application can be implemented inhardware, firmware, and/or software. In one embodiment, program modulesor applications formed of executable computer program instructions arestored on the storage device 808, loaded into the memory 806, andexecuted by the processor 802.

The above description is included to illustrate operation of theembodiments and does not limit the scope of the invention. From theabove, many variations will be apparent to one skilled in the relevantart that would yet be encompassed by the scope of the invention.

1. (canceled)
 2. A method for tracking a workflow action item, themethod comprising: receiving at a server via a computer network, amessage from a first client device; performing, by a processor, naturallanguage processing of the message to identify an intended recipient ofthe message and the workflow action item associated with the message;updating an entry in a workflow tracking application to indicate thatthe workflow action item is open; outputting the message to a secondclient device associated with the intended recipient via the computernetwork; receiving at the server via the computer network, a response tothe message from the second client device; processing, by the processor,the response to identify the workflow action item associated with theresponse and to determine a status of the workflow action item fromcontent of the response; and responsive to the status indicating thatthe workflow action item is completed, updating the entry in theworkflow tracking application to indicate that the workflow action itemis closed.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the message fromthe first client device comprises: receiving the message in a firsttransport-specific format from a communication application executing onthe first client; and converting the message from the firsttransport-specific format to a standardized format prior to processingthe message.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein outputting the message tothe second client device comprises: determining a desired deliverymechanism of the message to the second client device based on a storedprofile associated with the intended recipient; and converting themessage to a transport-specific format associated with the desireddelivery mechanism of the intended recipient.
 5. The method of claim 2,wherein the message comprises a sequence of text characters, and whereinprocessing the message comprises: performing a character analysis of thefirst sequence of text characters of the message to automaticallyseparate the first sequence of text characters into a first subset ofcharacters corresponding to an unstructured portion of the message and asecond subset of characters corresponding to a predefined set ofallowable responses to the message; and storing the first subset ofcharacters to a message content field associated with the message; andstoring the predefined set of allowable responses to a response rulesfield associated with the message.
 6. The method of claim 5, whereinperforming the character analysis comprises: identifying one or moreend-of-message characters in the first sequence of text characters;identifying a first portion of the message before the end-of-messagecharacter as the first subset of the first sequence of text characterscorresponding to the unstructured portion; identifying a second portionof the message after the end-of-message character as the second subsetof the first sequence of text characters corresponding to the predefinedset of allowable responses; identifying a delimiter character in thesecond subset of the first sequence of text characters; and determiningthe predefined set of allowable responses as a first allowed responsecorresponding to a first group of characters in the second subset beforethe delimiter character and a second allowed response corresponding to asecond group of characters in the second subset after the delimitercharacter.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the response comprises asecond sequence of text characters, wherein processing the responsefurther comprises: determining whether the response to the messagecomplies with the predefined set of allowable responses to the messagestored in the response rules field by comparing the second sequence oftext characters to the second subset of the first sequence of textcharacters; and sending a notification to the second client responsiveto the response not complying.
 8. The method of claim 7, whereindetermining whether the response to the message complies comprises:comparing content of the response to each of the predefined set ofallowed responses; determining that the response is not compliant if thecontent of the response does not match any of the predefined set ofallowed responses.
 9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstoring instructions for tracking a workflow action item, theinstructions when executed by a processor causing the processor toperform steps including: receiving at a server via a computer network, amessage from a first client device; performing natural languageprocessing of the message to identify an intended recipient of themessage and the workflow action item associated with the message;updating an entry in a workflow tracking application to indicate thatthe workflow action item is open; outputting the message to a secondclient device associated with the intended recipient via the computernetwork; receiving at the server via the computer network, a response tothe message from the second client device; processing the response toidentify the workflow action item associated with the response and todetermine a status of the workflow action item from content of theresponse; and responsive to the status indicating that the workflowaction item is completed, updating the entry in the workflow trackingapplication to indicate that the workflow action item is closed.
 10. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, whereinreceiving the message from the first client device comprises: receivingthe message in a first transport-specific format from a communicationapplication executing on the first client; and converting the messagefrom the first transport-specific format to a standardized format priorto processing the message.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 9, wherein outputting the message to the secondclient device comprises: determining a desired delivery mechanism of themessage to the second client device based on a stored profile associatedwith the intended recipient; and converting the message to atransport-specific format associated with the desired delivery mechanismof the intended recipient.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 9, wherein the message comprises a sequence oftext characters, and wherein processing the message comprises:performing a character analysis of the first sequence of text charactersof the message to automatically separate the first sequence of textcharacters into a first subset of characters corresponding to anunstructured portion of the message and a second subset of characterscorresponding to a predefined set of allowable responses to the message;and storing the first subset of characters to a message content fieldassociated with the message; and storing the predefined set of allowableresponses to a response rules field associated with the message.
 13. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, whereinperforming the character analysis comprises: identifying one or moreend-of-message characters in the first sequence of text characters;identifying a first portion of the message before the end-of-messagecharacter as the first subset of the first sequence of text characterscorresponding to the unstructured portion; identifying a second portionof the message after the end-of-message character as the second subsetof the first sequence of text characters corresponding to the predefinedset of allowable responses; identifying a delimiter character in thesecond subset of the first sequence of text characters; and determiningthe predefined set of allowable responses as a first allowed responsecorresponding to a first group of characters in the second subset beforethe delimiter character and a second allowed response corresponding to asecond group of characters in the second subset after the delimitercharacter.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 12, wherein the response comprises a second sequence of textcharacters, wherein processing the response further comprises:determining whether the response to the message complies with thepredefined set of allowable responses to the message stored in theresponse rules field by comparing the second sequence of text charactersto the second subset of the first sequence of text characters; andsending a notification to the second client responsive to the responsenot complying.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumof claim 14, wherein determining whether the response to the messagecomplies comprises: comparing content of the response to each of thepredefined set of allowed responses; determining that the response isnot compliant if the content of the response does not match any of thepredefined set of allowed responses.
 16. A system for tracking aworkflow action item, the system comprising: a processor; and anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions,the instructions when executed by the processor causing the processor toperform steps including: receiving at a server via a computer network, amessage from a first client device; performing natural languageprocessing of the message to identify an intended recipient of themessage and the workflow action item associated with the message;updating an entry in a workflow tracking application to indicate thatthe workflow action item is open; outputting the message to a secondclient device associated with the intended recipient via the computernetwork; receiving at the server via the computer network, a response tothe message from the second client device; processing the response toidentify the workflow action item associated with the response and todetermine a status of the workflow action item from content of theresponse; and responsive to the status indicating that the workflowaction item is completed, updating the entry in the workflow trackingapplication to indicate that the workflow action item is closed.
 17. Thesystem of claim 16, wherein receiving the message from the first clientdevice comprises: receiving the message in a first transport-specificformat from a communication application executing on the first client;and converting the message from the first transport-specific format to astandardized format prior to processing the message.
 18. The system ofclaim 16, wherein outputting the message to the second client devicecomprises: determining a desired delivery mechanism of the message tothe second client device based on a stored profile associated with theintended recipient; and converting the message to a transport-specificformat associated with the desired delivery mechanism of the intendedrecipient.
 19. The system of claim 16, wherein the message comprises asequence of text characters, and wherein processing the messagecomprises: performing a character analysis of the first sequence of textcharacters of the message to automatically separate the first sequenceof text characters into a first subset of characters corresponding to anunstructured portion of the message and a second subset of characterscorresponding to a predefined set of allowable responses to the message;and storing the first subset of characters to a message content fieldassociated with the message; and storing the predefined set of allowableresponses to a response rules field associated with the message.
 20. Thesystem of claim 19, wherein performing the character analysis comprises:identifying one or more end-of-message characters in the first sequenceof text characters; identifying a first portion of the message beforethe end-of-message character as the first subset of the first sequenceof text characters corresponding to the unstructured portion;identifying a second portion of the message after the end-of-messagecharacter as the second subset of the first sequence of text characterscorresponding to the predefined set of allowable responses; identifyinga delimiter character in the second subset of the first sequence of textcharacters; and determining the predefined set of allowable responses asa first allowed response corresponding to a first group of characters inthe second subset before the delimiter character and a second allowedresponse corresponding to a second group of characters in the secondsubset after the delimiter character.
 21. The system of claim 19,wherein the response comprises a second sequence of text characters,wherein processing the response further comprises: determining whetherthe response to the message complies with the predefined set ofallowable responses to the message stored in the response rules field bycomparing the second sequence of text characters to the second subset ofthe first sequence of text characters; and sending a notification to thesecond client responsive to the response not complying.